The Lies We Tell

By (author) Zhao, Katie
Description
All Anna Xu wants to do as she starts freshman year at the local prestigious Brookings University is keep up her stellar academic performance, break out of her shell, be more social ... and investigate the unsolved on-campus murder of her former babysitter six years ago. And if that wasn''t difficult enough, it seems that Chris Lu, whose family are the Xu''s business rivals, is attending Brookings too. There''s no way they can be friends. Until a vandal attacks the Lu''s bakery and Anna puts the perpetrator''s call sign together with a clue from her investigation into the cold-case murder. When a very specific threat is made to Anna, she is forced to team up with Chris to undertake a dangerous search into the hate crimes happening around campus. Can they root out the current threat or will the town''s ugly history take them down?
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Dark, thrilling mystery. Readers who love Karen M. McManus will enjoy this fast-paced, dramatic story
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This standout prep school murder mystery ... [is] an enticing new treat for fans of Pretty Little Liars and Karen McManus
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...this is one that fans of Sara Shepard and Karen McManus will kill to read
Biographical note
Katie Zhao is the author of the young-adult thriller How We Fall Apart as well as the middle-grade fantasy The Dragon Warrior and its sequel, The Fallen Hero. She grew up in Michigan, where there was little for her to do besides bury her nose in a good book or a writing journal. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in English and a minor in political science; she also completed her master''s in accounting there. In her spare time, Katie enjoys reading, singing, dancing (badly) and checking out new photo-worthy restaurants. www.katiezhao.com @ktzhaoauthor
Promotional headline
A tense and thrilling YA novel from the author of How We Fall Apart about what it means to not feel safe in the places we call home, for fans for The Good Girl''s Guide to Murder
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A hooky #OwnVoices YA thriller: This diverse thriller explores deep questions about identity through the eyes of a Chinese American girl starting college
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Connected author with growing presence: Katie is a huge asset for promotion - she excels at social media, is very engaged with other YA authors and speaking about Asian American issues, and she has made great connections in the author/bookseller community
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Sweet romance slant: The main character''s family owns a Chinese bakery but finds herself falling for a boy whose family owns the rival Chinese bakery - a fresh take on a much-loved romantic trope
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An author who personally connects to the deeper themes in the book: Katie pulls from her own experience to reflect the issues pertinent to American-born teens from the Asian diaspora, facing the model-minority myth and feeling like perpetual foreigners. She started this book as a college student in 2016 amid the rise in Trumpian rhetoric, and the topic remains all-too-common today